“I will remember that there is art to medicine as
well as science, and that warmth, sympathy,
and understanding may outweigh the surgeon’s
knife or the chemist’s drug.” Hippocratic oath –
modern version

You may worry that opening up to your GP will land
you on medication or in a psychiatrist’s office. Not
necessarily. Your GP will recommend what he or she
thinks is best for you, but remember that you don’t
have to accept a treatment if you don’t want to. And
depending on your problem, your GP may be able to
offer a range of alternative treatment options.

Doctors don’t necessarily take the Hippocratic oath
these days. But in order to practice, all doctors must
be registered with the General Medical Council
(GMC), which has its own code of conduct.
According to this code, you can expect your GP to:
• make your care their first concern
• protect and promote your health
• provide a good standard of practice and care
• treat you as an individual and respect
your dignity
• work in partnership with you – listen to
you and respond to your concerns and
preferences
• be honest and open and act with integrity –
never discriminate unfairly against you
• never abuse your trust
• respect your right to confidentiality – medical
information often needs to be shared
between different members of a team caring
for you, but your GP has a duty to maintain
confidentiality except when failure to share
information could cause harm to you or other
people or there is a legal reason

You can find the booklet Good
Medical Practice, the core
ethical guide to medical
practice, on the GMC website
at www.gmc–uk.org

Exercise therapy, green therapy, counselling, group
therapy, CBT or guided self–help might be right for
you, and more holistic approaches are becoming
available all the time. It’s always worth checking
whether these could work for you.

Your GP has a duty to give you the highest
standard of care possible. How do you
know if that’s what you’re getting? It can
be difficult to find out about care quality as
many of the factors that might be important
to you can’t be measured. For example,
experience alone will tell you whether the
receptionist is going to smile at you!
But there are certain standards you can check and
some of these relate specifically to mental health.
To find out how your GP practice is faring on various
markers of quality, check out the Quality and
Outcomes Framework (QOF) website at
www.qof.ic.nhs.uk.

One London GP, Dr Saul, refers patients in emotional
distress to a horticultural therapy programme that’s
linked to his practice. The service, PoLLen, is run from
the Bromley–by–Bow centre in London. Partly funded
by Ecominds, so far over 100 referrals have been
made for gardening sessions, food growing, flower
arranging and art and design.

Some performance results are available on the NHS
Choices website too, along with some comments and
recommendations from other patients. Remember
that this takes into account all the staff at a practice
and you can’t usually check up on an individual GP.

Dr Saul says, “PoLLen’s beauty is that it’s not
threatening to its clients. When you have low
self–esteem and low motivation, it can be very
intimidating to engage in something new.
This is a kind of ‘group therapy’, but it does not
expect or demand verbal participation. So it
allows true reflection, giving clients the space
and time (and company) to make talking happen
naturally and safely.”

Being ‘sectioned’ means being held in a psychiatric
hospital or ward, whether you want to or not. It only
happens if there’s a risk to your own health or safety
or to other people’s. Your GP alone cannot section you.

For more information about PoLLen check out
www.bbbc.org.uk

• a doctor who has received special training

Our website has details of other Ecominds funded
projects mind.org.uk/ecominds

Tip
If you want to see a specialist or try a particular treatment – say so. Your GP may
well agree. And if they don’t, they should be able to explain why it’s not right for
you. Never leave an appointment with unasked questions.
10

Quality
care

Can my GP section me?

Three people must agree that being detained is right
for you:
• the Approved Mental Health Professional
(AMHP) or nearest relative as specified by
the Mental Health Act 1993
• a registered medical practitioner
It’s best if one of the professionals knows you,
so your GP may fulfil one of these roles.

For more information on what it means
to be sectioned and what you can do if
you don’t agree, see Mind Rights Guide 1:
Civil admission to hospital, which is
available on our website mind.org.uk

the issue

What to expect
from your GP

Not happy? How to complain
Remember that you can switch GPs at any time, either
to another doctor in the same practice or to another
surgery altogether. You don’t have to explain why.
If you’re still unhappy with your care, you can
complain. Every practice must have a clear, written
complaints procedure and you can get a copy from the
receptionist. The next places to turn are:
• your local PCT - contact details are available
from the NHS Choices website or your GP
surgery
• your local Patient Advice and Liaison Service
(PALS) - www.pals.nhs.uk
• the Independent Complaints and Advocacy
Service (ICAS) - phone numbers are available
on the NHS Choices website or from your
GP surgery

More information
We have a range of information that may answer any
more questions you have. Take a look at the following
booklets:
• Rights guide 1: civil admission to hospital
• Rights guide 3: consent to medical treatment
• The Mental Health Act 1983: an outline guide
• Legal Briefing: how to complain health and
social care

These are available at mind.org.uk or by calling
0844 448 4448.
For legal queries, you can contact our legal
advice service on 0300 466 6463 or at
legal@mind.org.uk. We also have online legal
questions at mind.org.uk/help/legal_unit/faqs
You may also find the NICE Guideline Common
mental health disorders: Identification and
pathways to care helpful. You can download
it from the NICE website, simply search for CG123
on www.nice.org.uk. For other mental
health enquiries call the Mind infoline on
0300 123 3393
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Mind membership news GP special

Published on May 31, 2013

How to get the most out of your GP, and what to do when it goes wrong.